Sermons

Thomas Aquinas: Sermon: Attendite

ATTENDITE

ON THE THRD SUNDAY AFTER THE FEAST OF THE APOSTLES PETER AND PAUL

Preached July 26, 1271 at Paris translated by Athanasius Sulavik

I. SERMON

Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. [1] The Apostle points out two contentious [desires] by these words: The spirit, he says, strives against the flesh and the flesh against the spirit, and yet sin arises from both: sometimes it arises from the weakness of the flesh and at other times through ignorance of the spirit;' therefore the Apostle says to the Corinthians: Let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit. And just as sin arises from the flesh, out of the weakness of the flesh, thus in Matthew: The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak., so the sin of the spirit arises through ignorance of the spirit, namely when the spirit is deceived. And so on this Sunday we are strengthened against both kinds of sin. We are strengthened against that sin which arises from the weakness of the flesh by the words of the Apostle who says in his letter: We are debtors to the flesh, not so that we may live according to the flesh; and we are strengthened against sin that arises from the deception of the spirit, where it says in the Gospel: Beware of false prophets, etc. [2] Let us ask our Savior, who wished us to be wary against both kinds of sin, to grant me something to say which that will be to his honor, etc. [3] The responsibility of a good leader is to train his troops to be on guard against ambushes. To be sure we have a cunning and deceptive enemy, hence we read in Ecclesiasticus: Many are the ambushes of the deceitful. The Psalmist writes: He sits in ambush with the rich, that is to say, with the proud. The Apostle explains these ambushes, saying that Satan disguises himself as an angel of light and his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. Through these words the Lord makes us wary of Satan's servants by teaching us four things. [4] First of all, he instructs us as to the kind of enemies, here: Beware of false prophets; secondly, he teaches us about their strategy of ambushing, here: who come to you in sheep's clothing; thirdly, their menacing harm, here: but inwardly they are ravenous wolves; fourthly, he teaches us how to identify them, here: You will know them by their fruits. [5] These enemies are false prophets, and being extremely dangerous must be avoided, because they are as dangerous to us as good angels are necessary and helpful to us, hence we read in Proverbs: When prophecy fails the people will be scattered. Jeremiah says this about false prophets: From the prophets of Jerusalem corruption has gone forth into all the land. And in order that we may discern who the false prophets are, let us first of all consider what the definition of a prophet is, and how he becomes a false prophet. [6] There are four defining points of a prophet. The first is divine revelation, as we read in Amos: The Lord God does nothing without revealing his secret to his servants the prophets. [7] Sometimes certain divine things are revealed to someone who does not understand them, as when Nebuchadnezar saw a statue, and something was revealed to Pharaoh, namely ears of grain and cows, though he did not understand it. For this reason understanding is the second thing that is required, as we read in Daniel: A word was revealed to Daniel and he understood the word, hence understanding was needed in the visions. [81 If a man were to receive a revelation from God and though he understood it nonetheless kept it to himself, no benefit would be derived from that; for this reason a third thing is required so that those things which are revealed to a man, which he himself also understands, will be announced to another. As it says in Isaiah: What I have heard from the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, I announce to you. [9] There are certain divinely revealed and announced things beyond human comprehension that men would not believe unless they were given a sign, and this outward sign is the action of miracles, which is indicated in the fourth book of Kings, where it is said that when Naaman the Syrian had come to the King of Israel to be cured firom leprosy, Elias said: Send him to me so that he will know that there is a prophet in Israel. [10] But according to what I have already said, I now add that the name of a prophet is understood in four ways. [11] Sometimes someone who has received a divine revelation is called a prophet, therefore we read in Numbers: If there be among you a prophet of the Lord, in a dream, I will speak to him through a vision. [12] At other times someone who has not received a divine revelation, [but has the ability to understand it] is called a prophet, hence we read in I Corinthians: Let the prophets speak; two or three, and let the rest judge. So he calls teachers and preachers prophets according to that [phrase] of Ecclesiaticus: All teachers will still pour out doctrine as prophecy. [13] Sometimes those who repeat revelations are called prophets, hence in Chronicles: The sons of Asaph [and] of Jeduthun were prophesying. [14] Sometimes those who perform miracles are called prophets, therefore in Ecclesiasticus it is said that the lifeless body of Elias prophesied, that is, he performed a prophetic miracle; in the book of Kings it is said that some frightened thieves cast the corpse of a certain slain man into the sepulchre of Elias, whereupon that man came to back to life. And so it is said in the Gospel that when Christ performed miracles, the Jews responded: A great prophet has risen up among us. [15] Therefore it says: Beware etc. But how are prophets understood here? Chrysostom says that what is meant here by prophets are not those who prophesy about Christ, but interpret prophecy about Christ, because no one can interpret prophetic meanings except through the Holy Spirit. [16] Let us now consider those who are called false prophets. There are four ways of being a false prophet: firstly, by reason of their deceptive teaching; secondly, by reason of their deceptive inspiration; thirdly, by reason of their deceptive intention; and fourthly, by reason of their deceptive life. [17] Now, in the first place some are called false prophets by reason of their deceptive teaching, as when he proclaims and teaches spurious things. It is a prophet's duty to announce and to teach truths, hence we find in Daniel: A word was revealed to Daniel, and it was a true word. And the Lord says: If anyone proclaims my words, let him speak truly. But many make false claims, and therefore we read in the Catholic Epistle: There were false prophets among the people, even as there will be among you lying teachers, who are not afraid to introduce a ruinous heresy. Was not Arius a liar and those like him who sought to correct Christ's teaching? Thus we find in Lamentations: Your prophets have seen false and foolish things. But what are these foolish things? Whoever speaks false things gladly, speaks pleasing things. We read in Isaiah: Speak to us pleasant things: see errors for us. Asked what false things the prophets saw, Jeremiah responds: They have not laid open your iniquity in order to incite you to penance. If anyone calls good evil and evil good: they are false prophets. As Jeremiah says: They have seen false revelations and banishments; what is accepted is approved and what is rejected is disapproved. Therefore when esteemible things are disdained and detestible things are esteemed, then you are witnessing false conclusions. [18] It is evident through the Lord's teaching what is to be esteemed and what is to be detested. Living according to the ways of the world and leading a worldly life must be detested. If anyone says that it is better to fast without a vow, and leads others away from religious life where they are fasting under a vow, and persuades them to fast in the world without a vow, then he holds a spurious teaching. The Prophet says: Make a vow and perform it. He says this because it is better to fast under a vow than without a vow; otherwise he would only have said: "Make it". Anselm offers us an example in his book, De similitudinibus, explaining that whoever gives an apple tree gives more than someone who gives only apples; in the same way whoever makes a vow and performs it acts better than someone who performs a good deed without a vow. Nonetheless it is better that you should not vow than that you should vow and not pay. [19] Moreover, they are called false prophets by reason of their deceptive inspiration. Where does the inspiration of true prophets come from? Certainly, it comes from God and the Holy Spirit, as we read in the Canonical epistle of Peter: Prophecy came not by the will of men but the holy men of God spoke, inspired by the Holy Spirit. [Whoever can be deceptively inspired by the devil], can also be deceptively inspired by his own spirit; we find both in sacred Scripture. [20] First of all, someone can be deceptively inspired by the devil, as we read in Jeremiah: His prophets were prophesying in Baal; in Baal, that is to say in the devil, to prophesy is to speak about secret things. Sorcerers, who, through the inspiration of the devil, inquire into the truth about dark secrets, prophesy in Baal. And among sins and particular sorts of idolatry this is a most serious offense, nor can anyone be excused from this just because they say that they are doing it to bring about some good, since an evil act should not to be done to bring about some good, as the Apostle says: Let us do evil that there may come good; the damnation of these people is just. [21] Others are deceptively inspired by their own spirit, thus in Ezekiel: Thus says the Lord God, [Woe] to the foolish prophets who follow their own spirit, and have seen nothing. And Jeremiah says: They speak a vision of their own mind, not from the mouth of the Lord. Those who follow human reasoning speak from their own spirit. People such as these speak according to platonic principles which cannot reach the truth; namely, they are like those who say that the world is eternal. [22] We find that others, who study philosophy and advance some things which are not true according to the faith, who when told that this is repugnant to the faith, respond by saying that they themselves do not assert this, but rather they are only repeating the words of the Philosopher. Such a person is a false prophet or a false teacher, for it is the same thing to instill doubt and not to resolve it, as it is to affirm the doubt. This point is illustrated in Exodus where it says that if anyone digs a well and opens the pit and does not cover it, and if their neighbor's ox comes along and falls into the pit, the person who opened the pit is held accountable for its restitution. That person who instills doubt about those things which belong to faith opens a pit; he does not cover the pit who does not resolve the doubt, even though he himself possesses sound and clear understanding and is not deceived. Nonetheless the other person who does not possess such clear understanding is truly deceived, and so that man who instilled the doubt is held accountable for restitution, since it was through him that the other man fell into the pit. [23] Consider this dear brothers: there were many philosophers who spoke many things belonging to faith, and you will scarcely find two philosophers agreeing upon one opinion; and any one of them that did say something true, did not speak without an admixture of error. A little old woman now knows more about what belongs to faith than all the philosophers once knew. We read that Pythagoras began as a boxer; he heard his teacher discuss the immortality of the soul, asserting that the soul was immortal, and he was so enthralled that after having forsaken everything, he dedicated himself to the study of philosophy. But what little old woman is there today who does not know that the soul is immortal? Faith is capable of much more than philosophy, consequently if philosophy contradicts faith, it must not to be accepted, as the Apostle to the Colossians says: See to it that no one deceive you by philosophy and empty deceit. Let no one seduce you, willing, walking in the things which he has not seen, in vain puffed up by the sense of his flesh, not holding the head, that is Christ. [24] Others are called false prophets by reason of their deceptive intention. But what is a prophet's true intention? Certainly it is the welfare of the people, as the Apostle says in his letter to the Corinthians: He who prophesies speaks to men for their edification and encouragement and consolation. [He speaks] for their edification so that they may become devout; for their encouragement so that they may become ready to perform good deeds; for their consolation so that they may become patient in adversity. If anyone seeks anything from a teaching other than the welfare of the people, he is a false prophet. [25] Every bishop who takes up the duty of governing and preaching must look to the welfare of his people. But if he is seeking anything else, namely temporal gain and empty glory, he is a false prophet, because he does not keep an upright intention; for this reason Chrysostom says that many priests are not concerned with how people live, but with how much they give. Therefore, in Ezekiel the Lord deplores such men: And they violated me among my people for a handful of barley and a piece of bread. Against whom the Apostle says: For we are not as many, adulterating the word of God. Gregory also says that "that servant is guilty of adulterous thoughts, if he desires to please the eyes of the bride when the bridegroom sends gifts by him to her. An adulterer is not looking to sire a child with his mistress, but he is only looking for a moment of pleasure. Likewise, that person adulterates the word of God, who is not looking to sire a spiritual child, but is only looking for temporal gain and empty glory. [26] Others are called false prophets by reason of their wicked life, as when someone teaches one way but lives another way: then his teaching must not be accepted. It is for this reason that Christ began to do and to teach. And it says in Luke: As he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets, who are from the beginning, as if to say: the prophets through whom the Lord speaks ought to be holy men. But the Lord deplores such prophets through his prophet Jeremiah: The priests, he said, and the prophets are defiled; in my house I have found their wickedness. We shall ask the Lord, etc.

II. COLLATIO

Beware of false prophets, etc. ²⁷ I have already spoken today about the enemies of the Christian people, namely about false prophets; now we must consider how they entrap us. The Apostle to the Corinthians exposes their traps, and likewise the Lord in the Gospel when he says: Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, etc. Here the meaning of hypocrisy is understood because hypocrisy is the hiding place of false prophets. Therefore the Apostle in his letter to Timothy says: The Spirit manifestly says: in the last days mockers will come, departing from the faith by giving heed to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons, speaking lies in the hypocrisy. If anyone were to consider the life and character of others, those who lead an austere life by abstaining from marriage and extravagant foods will appear to him as good, but in fact they answer to the spirits of delusion and the teachings of demons. ²⁸ Turn your attention now to what he says: They come to you in sheep's clothing. The sheep are Christ's faithful who obey Christ, hence in John: My sheep hear my voice. Sheep's clothing are the moral examples of Christ. Thus it is that the Apostle says: Be renewed in the spirit of your mind and put on the new man, who according to God is created injustice and holiness of truth. Here he touches upon two points, because justice seems outwardly to belong to our neighbors, and holiness of truth seems to belong to the interior disposition of the soul. Hence that saying of Proverbs is fulfilled: Her entire household is clothed with double garments, namely, inwardly with the virtues of the soul and outwardly with good works. ²⁹ To be sure, if false prophets were clothed in both, they would be Christ's sheep. A person approves of others based on their outer clothing, therefore it says: They come to you in sheep's clothing, which means that they assume exterior activities by which they come to us, since they approach God by interior activities. ³⁰ And it should be noted that Christ's sheep are clothed in a fourfold way, namely with the clothing of worship, of justice, of penitence, and of innocence. ³¹ The clothing of worship is the clothing of divine worship which Christ's sheep wear to concentrate on divine worship. Christ's sheep receive this clothing at Baptism, thus the Apostle to the Galatians says: As many of you as have been baptized in Christ have put on Christ. Christ's sheep put on this clothing when they concentrate on prayer, as we read in Ecclesiasticus: In ascending the altar of incense, he honored God. ³² Hypocrites assume this clothing for two reasons, namely for empty praise and money. For the sake of vainglory they put it on by praying publically and openly, hence in the Gospel it says: They love to pray in the synagogues and corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men; in the synagogues, that is to say publically. But is it a bad thing to do this, since it is written: All you angels, bless the Lord, etc.?" Chrysostom says that this has not so much to do with the place than with the soul. The one who prays in secret directs his attention, not to men, but to God. If someone prays alone in his room and he wants to be seen by men, he should pray in public. What then is being forbidden? Namely, that people should not intend to be seen by others when they pray; for this reason Christians must avoid this. Therefore Chrysostom gives this advice: "Let the one praying do nothing unusual so that he may not be able to be seen by men, neither by crying aloud, nor by beating his breast, nor by raising his hands." But if you are praying in the same manner as the others in your community, then you are praying in secret; however, looking for new methods and gestures applies to what is said about praying in synagogues. When praying, a person ought to pray in unison with others, and not look for novel methods as the hypocrites do who pray publically for the sake of vainglory. And moreover, they pray long prayers for money, thus it says in the Gospel: Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you devour the houses of widows praying long prayers, namely, they pray in order to obtain money. Some, in a most shameful way, obtain money from defenseless women: they pray long prayers so that they may become devout women and receive gifts from them. But is there anything evil in praying long prayers? Augustine answers by saying: "Verboseness should be absent from prayer, but much prayer should not be lacking, if only the intention continues steadfastly; for very often this work is accomplished more by sighs than by words, more by tears than by speaking". ³³ Another clothing of Christ's sheep is the clothing of justice and mercy, about which Job says: I was clothed with justice, as with a robe, I was an eye to the blind and afoot to the lame; I was thefather of the poor. The hypocrites assume this clothing, therefore we read in the Gospel: Beware of practicing your piety before others in order to be seen by them; when you give alms, sound no trumpet, as the hypocrites do. Chrysostom says that the trumpet is every deed or word by which boasting is shown. For example: you give alms, but you would not give it except to a more reputable person who can repay you: this is a trumpet. Moreover, you act like a trumpet when you wish to give alms secretly so as to appear more praiseworthy. ³⁴ The third clothing of Christ's sheep is the clothing of penitence, about which the Psalmist says: I made haircloth my garment. The hypocrites use this clothing, namely a deceptive and austere way of life, thus we find in the Gospel: When you fast, do not look sad, like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by men. They seek and crave this so that their fasting may be seen by men. Augustine writes: "In this chapter we must turn our attention to the fact that it is possible to boast not only of the splendor of material things, but even of filthy squalor, and that this is all the more dangerous when it is disingenuously done in the name of the Lord's service." The Philosopher says that [if] a man were to wear apparel that is beneath his station in life, this can be considered a form of boasting. These exterior things act as certain kinds of insignias: in an army every battle line carries its own standard; this is not presumptuous. In whatever state of life a person finds himself, he should be content with ordinary things and not seek too much after worthless objects, for as Augustine says: "We should neither make too much use of expensive things nor of cheap things". And why is this? Because we are able to seek glory in these two ways. Concerning this cheap clothing it is said in Zechariah: They shall not put on a garment of sackcloth, namely, so that they do [not] pretend. ³⁵ The fourth clothing of Christ's sheep is innocence, which is clean and beautiful, thus we read in Proverbs: Strength and beauty are her clothing. The hypocrites assume this clothing, namely by feigning piety and purity, as we read in the Gospel: Woe to you hypocrites who are like whitewashed sepulchres, namely those things which appear to men to have been whitewashed, but inside they are full of dead men's bones and all filthiness, that is, violent theft and indecency. And Chrysostom says: "If it is vile to appear to be, it is even more vile actually to be so; if it is beautiful to appear, it is even more beautiful actually to be so." Such as these come in sheep's clothing. ³⁶ But it should be noted that others, who are not sheep, come in sheep's clothing, such as those who seek temporal gain and honors for themselves. Augustine distinguishes them by saying that one plays the part of a thief, another of a wolf, another of a shepherd, and another of a mercenary, since a shepherd seeks the good of his sheep, a wolf and a thief seek the sheep's destruction, and a mercenary seeks his own gain from the sheep. Augustine says that "We must tolerate the mercenary, love the shepherd, and flee the wolf," and this is what our Lord says: They come to you in the clothing of sheep, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. ³⁷ It must be noted that hypocrites are like wolves for four reasons, because wolves snatch away sheep, they do not spare them, they scatter them, and they persist in their own evil. ³⁸ Now in the first place, hypocrites are like wolves because wolves snatch away sheep, and hypocrites snatch away the goods of the soul and body, they lead men astray, and physically pursue them and deprive them of their possessions; therefore we read in Ezekiel: Her princes in the midst of her are like wolves tearing the prey, shedding blood, destroying souls to get dishonest gain. ³⁹ Secondly, hypocrites are like wolves because wolves scatter sheep, hence it says in the Gospel: The wolf snatches and scatters the sheep. The Lord says: He who is not with me is against me; therefore and he who does not gather with me scatters. But what does it mean to scatter? Certainly when someone departs from what the Church teaches, he is scattered. ⁴⁰ Thirdly, hypocrites are like wolves because they are altogether merciless; hence in Acts the Apostle says: I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. Whoever would murder a man and not spare him as long as he could gain one penny would be called extremely cruel; this is the way hypocrites act. Since the life of the soul is more precious than the life of the body, hypocrites seduce souls in order that they may have honors and adherents. ⁴¹ Fourthly, hypocrites are like wolves because wolves persist in their own evil, as it says in Sophonias: Her judges are wolves even until evening, that is, even unto the end. Therefore, for the preceding four reasons, false prophets, like wolves, must be avoided. ⁴² But how are wolves identified? This is shown when it says: You will know them by their fruits. Augustine says that many people are deceived when they mistake sheep's clothing for fruits. Some simple people see others performing good outward actions such as fasting, praying, and other such things which are sheep's clothing, but it is not their own clothing. However, Christ's sheep should not have a hatred for their own clothing, even if wolves do cover themselves with it. ⁴³ But what properly speaking are the fruits of sheep? We can say that sheep possess four fruits, and that from them we can identify wolves or hypocrites. The first fruit consists in affection, the second in speech, the third in activity, and the fourth in tribulation. The first is the fruit of the heart, the second of the mouth, the third of action, and the fourth of patience and fortitude. ⁴⁴ Now in the first place, Christ's sheep or saints enjoy the proper fruit of the heart, which is the love of God and neighbor; thus the Apostle says: But the fruit of the Spirit is joy, charity, and peace. But hypocrites, because they love honors, have another fruit, namely, the fruit of ambition; thus Isaiah says: I will visit the fruit of the proud heart of the king of Assyria. Hypocrites love the first places at feasts and the first chairs in the synagogues. If anyone wishes to be honored and he displays humility outwardly, then his clothing does not correspond to his fruit. ⁴⁵ Another fruit of Christ's sheep is in their speech, since good men always say something good and speak about good; thus the Apostle to the Hebrews says: By him let us offer the sacrifice, the fruit of lips corresponding to his name. If anyone says something that is incongruent with his actions, then his clothes do not correspond to his fruit, thus we read in Proverbs: Of the fruit of a man's mouth will his belly be satisfied. It is difficult for a heart filled with jealousy not to let anything slip out from it at any moment, since out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. Therefore Gregory says: "While depraved people do speak openly about suitable topics, it is only with the greatest difficulty that they do not let roving secrets spew forth." ⁴⁶ The third fruit of Christ's sheep by which we can identify hypocrites belongs to good actions, because in good actions there is good fi uit, as the Apostle says: You have your fruit unto sanctification. However, in bad actions there is bad fruit, as we read in Proverbs: The fruit of the wicked is to sin, that is to the work of sin. In a certain sermon Augustine says: 'When anyone in the profession of Christianity draws men's eyes upon himself by an unusually filthy and foul garment, if this is done voluntarily and is not suffered out of necessity, then by his other activities it can be determined whether he is doing this out of contempt for stylish dress or whether he is doing it for adulation." It sometimes happens that a man will put on an attractive garment out of humility, but at other times he will do it for adulation. Consider his activities among other men: if he is among other men and spurns their adulation, then he is doing it out of humility; if not, as Augustine says, it can be determined from his activities: because those, who on the one hand wear cheap garments, but on the other hand prefer the signs of penitence and gentleness are the sheep of Christ; if not, they are frauds. "Therefore it is said that a hypocrite is easily recognized. The way through which we have been commanded to walk is an arduous one; and the hypocrite does not choose it". ⁴⁷ Again, hypocrites make a display of their meekness, but when they have the opportunity of persecuting, then they do their utmost to persecute, hence Gregory says: "If any trial of faith occurs, immediately the wolf ravenous at heart strips himself of his sheep's skin; and shows by persecuting how great his anger is against the good". ⁴⁸ A fourth sign by which hypocrites are recognized is in time of tribulation, therefore as it says in Proverbs: In the fruits of the wicked is trouble: the learning of a man is known by patience. Augustine commenting on the Lord's Sermon on the Mount, describes hypocrites this way: "For when by any temptations those things began to be withdrawn or denied, which they either attained or desired to attain under this cover, it must appear to be either a wolf in sheep's clothing, or a sheep in its own." For this reason James says in his canonical letter: If any man therefore will clean himself from these, he will be a vessel unto honor, prepared to the Lord. May he grant us to stand before him who with the Father, etc.

Aquinas: Sermons: Emitte spiritum

Thomas Aquinas

Sermon: Emitte spiritum

Aquinas's Sermon for the Feast of Pentecost:

A Rare Glimpse of Thomas the Preaching Friar

translated by Peter A. Kwasniewski and Jeremy Holmes ¹

Published as "Aquinas's Sermon for the Feast of Pentecost: A Rare Glimpse of Thomas the Preaching Friar," translated by Peter Kwasniewski and Jeremy Holmes from the provisional critical edition of the Leonine Commission, with introduction and notes by P. Kwasniewski, in Faith & Reason 30:1-2 (2005): 99-139. All rights reserved. Posted with translators' permission. To the translation itself Introduction Friar Thomas of the Order of Preachers For seven centuries St. Thomas Aquinas has been revered as the Church's supreme dogmatic or speculative theologian. In the course of this long history, he has also, though perhaps less widely, been recognized as a scriptural exegete of considerable subtlety and insight. ² It is fair to say, however, that he is rarely thought of as a preacher. Indeed, the conventional image of him—that of an abstracted, solitary genius, aloof from the cares of the world, pacing the halls in pursuit of an argument, plunged into a literary apostolate of staggering dimensions—seems to exclude preaching from the round of activities in which he could have been realistically engaged. His popular nickname, the Angelic Doctor, though very well suited to the loftiness of his thought and the purity of his person, might convey the impression that Thomas, like Moses during the revelation of the Law, spent his days at the summit of God's mountain, unseen by the people. ³ Yet those who know more about the saint and his times have good reason for calling into question the fidelity of such a portrait to its flesh-and-blood original. ⁴ Thomas gave himself heart and soul to a new religious community whose very identity was bound up with the mission of public preaching: the Dominicans, or more properly, the Ordo Fratrum Praedicatorum, the order of preaching brethren. He pursued this specific vocation in the face of considerable—by legend, violent and vulgar—opposition from members of his family. ⁵ At the University of Paris, he undertook the three traditional duties of a "master of the sacred page," magister in sacra pagina: lecturing on the Bible, holding public disputations, and preaching. Beginning in the following September [of 1256] he had to perform the three functions of the master in theology. These were announced at the end of the twelfth century by Peter Cantor and later confirmed in the statutes of the theology faculty: legere, disputare, praedicare. Thomas was completely aware of this, and an entire passage in his Principium [inaugural lecture] explains the qualities that the doctors in Sacred Scripture (doctores sacrae scripturae, the title should be noted) must possess in order to carry out their triple function. They must be "elevated" (alti) by the eminence of their lives to be able to preach effectively; "enlightened" (illuminati) in order to teach in an appropriate way; and "fortified" (muniti) to refute errors in disputation. ⁶ In short, by his Dominican vocation as by his academic position, Thomas was a man who should have been much involved in preaching the word of God from the pulpit. And in point of fact, he was. ⁷ As Ignatius Eschmann, op, summarizes: "St. Thomas preached assiduously, as may be expected from a Friar Preacher and, more especially still, a mediaeval Master of Theology whose statutory obligations included preaching just as attendance at University sermons was obligatory for the students." ⁸ A number of his sermons have come down to us—several sets of collationes ("conferences," as one could call them) and twenty-one "university sermons" that are either certainly by Aquinas or attributable to him with a high degree of probability. ⁹ The tendency to overlook Thomas the preacher is easily explained. For one thing, of the great many sermons he must have preached, relatively few are extant. ¹⁰ Nor is this dearth peculiar to the Dumb Ox. Most medieval sermons, in this respect no different from sermons of any period, were not written as polished literary products for the instruction of posterity, but were pièces d'occasion, delivered from notes or outlines likely to be subsequently lost. In some instances we have found outlines, but from such documents a full-scale sermon cannot really be extrapolated. It complicates matters, too, that while these notes or outlines are often in Latin, the sermons based on them were just as often preached in the vernacular. (The moment a scribe enters the picture, he will probably write down a summary in Latin, the academic's native tongue and the language he is accustomed to abbreviating.) Moreover, in contrast to later ages when more convenient and more durable means of recording and publishing were developed, a vast number of records from the Middle Ages have been lost over the centuries due to natural decay, fire and flood, war, reformatory purges, recycling, and so on—though enough manuscripts survive to keep scholars busy indefinitely. If a particular sermon was lucky enough to survive the day of its delivery, this was owing either to the good offices of a scribe with nimble quill catching the words as they came forth from the pulpit, or to a deliberate plan on the part of the preacher. ¹¹ In part, too, Thomas was not, you might say, a "preacher's preacher"; his chief occupation, and one suspects preoccupation, was different: elaborate disputed questions, compendia of doctrine, commentaries, apologetic and polemical treaties, and the like—which are still definitely forms of preaching, as the Dominicans have always seen it, but of a more rarefied kind, aimed at imparting the science of sacred doctrine. When we turn to a homily by Aquinas, what do we find? Thomas's preaching, remarks L. H. Petitot, op, "ordinarily reproduced or prolonged his doctrinal teaching in more accessible and edifying forms." ¹² The same biographer offers an excellent summary of this aspect of the friar's life and work: The sermons of St. Thomas manifest the depth of his ascetic and mystical life. Although the orator in him was sacrificed to favor his development as a theologian and teacher, Thomas preached quite frequently. In fact, he enjoyed great renown as a preacher. He delivered his sermons at Saint-Jacques in Paris, before the Religious, the faithful, and members of the University. In Italy he preached to the Roman Court. At Naples, he spoke each night during Lent. He evoked such emotion when speaking of the Passion that he had to stop while the people wept... His commanding presence, the aura of learning and simplicity which surrounded him, must have fascinated and charmed his listeners. William of Tocco tells us that, because of his constant abstraction of mind, Thomas could speak no other vernacular language besides his native dialect. At Naples, he used the language of the province. The biographer adds that he put aside his theological erudition and scholastic subtleties, and produced the fruits of conversion in the hearts of the people. ¹³ The Neapolitan sermons mentioned here were preached during the Lent of 1273, the last of the saint's life, and had for their subject the petitions of the Lord's Prayer. ¹⁴ Many who had heard Thomas in the pulpit or knew others who had heard him testified during the canonization process that people were deeply moved by his words. Readers today tend to find the saint's "conferences" intellectually nourishing but not especially moving, and so are puzzled when they hear reports of the congregation's emotional response. ¹⁵ Obviously, much of the effect of a sermon depends on the actual delivery. The voice, the gestures, the timing, the grace of the Holy Spirit at work on a receptive soul—these factors should not be overlooked. Speaking from personal experience, I have at times been powerfully moved by a sermon, only to find, when I looked over the notes kindly given to me by the priest later on, that it seemed rather sparse. This is no fault of the preacher's, but a fault of the written medium, which does poor justice to the spoken word. One should bear this in mind all the more for medieval sermons, which were often written out, or copied down, in a kind of scholastic shorthand. For instance, Aquinas may have produced Latin outlines for his sermons on the Apostles' Creed, but the full-fledged version he delivered in the Neapolitan dialect is something we cannot reproduce; the Latin reportatio of Reginald of Piperno is trustworthy as to content, but is more a doctrinal summary than a word-for-word copy. The results on paper can thus seem clipped in style, compressed in thought, not very promising materials for public delivery. But if to such a dry outline one could "just add water"—the water of fluent speech and, especially, the tears of fervor shed so often by the great saints—it would spring into bloom like a desert flower rejoicing in the rain. ¹⁶ As Petitot reminded us, Thomas was preaching in Naples in his childhood mother-tongue, not in the Latin of the schools. We are, needless to say, grateful for the Latin summaries (reportationes) made by Reginald of Piperno and Peter d'Andria, but these do not reproduce the exact tenor of the original. "Of St. Thomas's sermon," wrote Hyacinthe Dondaine, "we hear in truth only the echo transmitted by the reporter." ¹⁷ The Pentecost sermon Among the authentic sermons of Aquinas are several so recently discovered that they have not yet been published in any form, whether in Latin or in translation. Here, we are pleased to be able to offer a translation of one such sermon (or, more precisely, two-part sermon), preached by Thomas on the Feast of Pentecost, in all probability during his second term in Paris as regent master of theology, 1268-1272. It was customary at this time to divide a sermon on a major feast into two parts, called the sermo and the collatio, which were delivered separately—one early in the day, the other in the evening. Fittingly, the celebration of a great feast went from morning to night, with solemn choral prayer and Mass, processions, a banquet, and so on. Torrell notes, apropos the sermon at hand: "This text, preached on a Pentecost, is a precious witness of the rare cases in which, besides the morning preaching, we have the second part, given at Vespers; which is to say that it gives us a rather full account." ¹⁸ Although Fr. Bataillon has prepared a critical edition from the three manuscripts in which it has been preserved (Salamanca, Univ. 2187, f. 184ra-188va; Sevilla, Cabildo, 83.2.5, f. 136ra-140vb; and Erlangen, Univ. 322, f. 83va-86ra), it is uncertain when the Latin text of this sermon (and of all the others) will be released to the public in a volume of the editio Leonina. The present translation will therefore prove useful to all students of St. Thomas, both for those who do not read Latin, and for those who do, but have, as yet, no published Latin text to consult. Fr. Torrell appears to be the first commentator who has been able to incorporate into his analysis of St. Thomas's rich theology of the Holy Spirit a reference to the content of the Pentecost sermon, having learned of its existence from his intimate involvement with the Leonine Commission: Although it is already perfectly accessible, this teaching [just summarized] on the Holy Spirit was not a mere theological thesis topic; Thomas speaks about it quite volubly in his preaching. We already used in passing his homilies on the Credo. But to better grasp the concrete form that this could take, we also have a beautiful sermon that gives a more precise echo. ¹⁹ Torrell limits himself to a brief summary of the content, pointing out the extent to which Thomas accentuates the omnipresence of the Spirit in Christian life. ²⁰ The sermon itself is straightforward in approach, with a fourfold structure highly favored by the saint. The text preached on is a verse from Psalm 104 ¹⁰³ that appears in the liturgy of Pentecost (and also, more familiarly, as part of a much-loved prayer, the Veni sancte Spiritus ²¹): "Send forth Thy Spirit and they shall be created, and Thou shalt renew the face of the earth." (Hence, one may refer to this sermon simply by its opening phrase or incipit, Emitte Spiritum.) Thomas points out that this verse identifies four things: the nature of the Spirit, the purpose of His activity, the working that accomplishes this purpose, and the object of His working, or in short, who He is, why He acts, His acting, and what He acts upon. Readers familiar with Aristotle will recognize here the four causes: formal, final, efficient, and material. The sermo (the morning's homily) takes up the first two points, while the collatio (the evening's homily) takes up the last two points. Some features characteristic of Thomas's homilies in general and this one in particular include the pointed use of the second person, calling each listener to attention; a rhetorical use of questions in order to bring home truths more memorably; the use of many concrete illustrations to which everyone can relate, along with some gentle but firm words of remonstration; a high density and diversity of Scriptural citations ranging over both Testaments; an "economic" and "cosmic" perspective that embraces the whole history of salvation and, while emphasizing man, takes the whole universe into its purview; a pronounced affective dimension, stressing the personal and intimate friendship between God and man, and charity toward one's neighbors; a number of ideas borrowed from the liturgy or liturgical customs. One feature of Aquinas's sermons that will surprise nobody is their resolute engagement with doctrinal questions. Despite its comparative simplicity, a homily by Thomas stretches the listener's powers of understanding. It goes without saying that he wants people to be moved to a greater love of God, but he wants people above all to think about the mysteries of faith—to think clearly and deeply, so as to arrive at a better grasp of the meaning of the feast at hand, or of a scriptural passage under consideration. Of course, Thomas was often preaching to theology students, so he could afford to tax his congregation's powers more than a parish priest might find it wise to attempt on a typical Sunday. Still, this characteristic is true of his Neapolitan homilies, too: they are not pious fluff to make people feel good (or feel bad); they aim at a real understanding and, through this, a contemplation of mystery. All the same, a sermon has to be relatively brief and straightforward, otherwise it will fail in its pastoral function. Thomas never forgets this practical side of things, making his points swiftly and clearly, and covering a lot of ground in a short time. He never wanders. I will not burden the introduction with a detailed analysis of the sermon, much less a comparison of its contents to the teaching contained in other works of St. Thomas. The subject of Aquinas's pneumatology has drawn the attention and exercised the talents of generations of commentators, from classic exponents such as Cajetan, John of St. Thomas, and the Carmelites of Salamanca down to eminent Thomists of the last century such as Garrigou-Lagrange, Maritain, and Journet. ²² The secondary literature in this area is quite ample. ²³ Deserving of special mention are the penetrating studies of Thomas's Trinitarian doctrine by Bertrand de Margerie, sj, ²⁴ and Gilles Emery, op. ²⁵ As regards the Church's Magisterium, the Roman Pontiffs have embraced and proposed Aquinas's teaching on the Holy Spirit with the same conviction with which they have adopted other central aspects of his theology, as evidenced by Leo XIII's encyclical on the Holy Spirit, Divinum Illud Munus (May 9, 1897) and John Paul II's encyclical Dominum et Vivificantem (May 5, 1986). ²⁶ In fact, Leo XIII's encyclical has been described as D. J. Kennedy as "largely drawn from St. Thomas," making it an ideal introduction to this area of the Angelic Doctor's theology.

Translation

Sermon and Collation of St. Thomas Aquinas for the Feast of Pentecost ²⁷ Sermon for the Day "Send forth Thy Spirit and they shall be created, and Thou shalt renew the face of the earth." (Ps. 103:30) ²⁸ We should speak about Him without whom no one can speak rightly, about Him who gives speech and gives the power to speak copiously. And indeed, it is impossible to speak rightly without Him. Nor should one marvel at what is said: "Who can know the sense [ sensum ]" of the truth of God "unless he shall send His Spirit from the Most High?" (Wis. 9:17). ²⁹ Without a feeling [ sensu ] for the truth, no one speaks what is true. In like manner, the Holy Spirit makes all the saints speak copiously, and for this reason Gregory says: "Those whom He fills, He makes wise." ³⁰ The same thing is manifest today [on Pentecost], when "the apostles were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in various tongues" (Acts 2:4). Therefore, even though we are mute, we shall ask that He who gives abundant speech shall give me words to speak. "Send forth Thy Spirit and they shall be created." Today Holy Mother Church solemnly celebrates the sending of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles—a sending which the Prophet besought, when moved by the Spirit of prophecy he said: "Send forth Thy spirit and they shall be created, and Thou shalt renew the face of the earth." These words give us four things to consider: (1) what is proper to ³¹ the Holy Spirit himself, (2) His sending, ³² (3) the power of the one sent, and (4) the matter receptive of this power. The Prophet says, then: "Send forth": behold, the sending; "Thy Spirit": behold, the Person sent; "and they shall be created, and Thou shalt renew": behold, the effect of the one sent; "the face of the earth": behold, the matter receptive of this effect. ³³ What is proper to the Holy Spirit First, I say that what is proper to the Holy Spirit is indicated when the prophet says: "Thy Spirit." Notice that the name "spirit" seems to convey four things: subtleness ³⁴ of substance, perfection of life, impulse of motion, and hidden origin. So, first of all, the name "spirit" seems to convey subtleness of substance. For we are accustomed to call incorporeal substances "spirit." Similarly, we call subtle bodies such as air or fire "spirit." Hence we read in the last chapter of Luke's Gospel: "See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself; handle me, and see; for a spirit has not flesh and bones as you see that I have" (Lk. 24:39). And this is the way that "spirit" is distinguished from things that have heavy matter, things that are composed out of flesh and body. ³⁵ Secondly, the name "spirit" seems to convey perfection of life. ³⁶ For as long as animals have breath [ spiritum ] they are alive, and when their breath leaves them, they perish. "Thou takest away their breath, and they die and return to their dust" (Ps. 103:29). And in Genesis, Noah called into his boat "all flesh in which there was the breath of life [ spiritus uitae ]." ³⁷ Thirdly, the name "spirit" seems to convey impulse of motion, for it is in this way that we give the name "spirit" to winds. ³⁸ And in the Psalms it says about this: "He spoke and there arose a storm of wind [ spiritus ], the winds of storms shall be the portion of their cup." ³⁹ Men are also said to act "with spirit" when they do something forcefully, as Isaiah has it: "the spirit of the robust, like a whirlwind driving against the wall" (Is. 25:4). ⁴⁰ Fourthly, the name "spirit" customarily names a hidden origin, as when someone, feeling troubled and not knowing the cause of what is troubling him, attributes it to a "spirit." ⁴¹ So we read in John: "The wind [ spiritus ] blows where it wills, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know whence it comes or whither it goes" (Jn. 3:8). In line with these four things, we can seek out what is proper to the Holy Spirit. Proceeding in reverse order, He is called "the Holy Spirit" on account of His being the hidden origin of things, ⁴² impulse of motion, holiness of life, and subtleness of substance. First, I say that one thing proper to the Holy Spirit is His being the hidden origin of things. Faith teaches us and reason persuades us that all visible and changeable things have a hidden cause. What is that cause? God. Hence the Apostle says: "God is the one who created all things" (Heb. 3:4). It is certain that whatsoever is other than God is created by God. But in what manner did God create all things? It was not by a natural necessity, as fire burns; rather, He produced all things by His own will: "All things whatsoever that He willed, He did" (Ps. 113:ii, 3). ⁴³ A craftsman makes a house by will, but is also urged on by necessity or usefulness—say, that he may earn a profit or dwell in that house. But God did not make the world from a will of needy desire, for He does not need our goods. ⁴⁴ Why, then, did He make the world? Surely not from a needy desire, but from a loving will. ⁴⁵ Here's a comparison: an artisan who conceives a beautiful house in his mind, not because he needs to build it, but simply loving the house's beauty—that artisan's love would bring the house into being. ⁴⁶ But what is the cause and root of the production of hidden things? Surely love. Hence we read in the Book of Wisdom: "Thou lovest all the things which are, and Thou hast hated none of the things which Thou didst make" (Wis. 11:25). ⁴⁷ And blessed Dionysius says that "divine love does not allow itself to be without seed." ⁴⁸ This love is the Holy Spirit. For this reason, the account in Genesis of the beginning of creation says that "the Spirit of the Lord was borne over the waters" (Gen. 1:2), namely, in order to produce matter and bring things into being. Today we celebrate the feast of the Holy Spirit, the Spirit which is the source [ principium ] of being for all things. The Holy Spirit, whose property is love, therefore has [the note of being creation's] hidden origin. ⁴⁹ Secondly, "Holy Spirit" conveys impulse of motion. For we see in the world diverse motions: natural motions and, in men and angels, voluntary motions. Where do these diverse motions come from? They must come from a first mover, namely, from God. "Thou shalt change them and they shall be changed" (Ps. 101:27). ⁵⁰ And God moves by will. But what is the first motion of the will? Surely love. And what sort of activity belongs to love? ⁵¹ I say: he who is moved by love rejoices by love over the thing loved and sorrows over what is contrary to it. Hence in the first chapter of Ezekiel we read: "Where the force of the Spirit was," that is, the inclination of divine love, "there they were carried" (Ezek. 1:12). ⁵² And in truth, all things that are in the world are moved by the Holy Spirit, as the book of Esther testifies when it says: "There is no one who could resist His will" (Esther 13:9). ⁵³ This Holy Spirit whose feast we celebrate today is the source of all motion. Now, some things in the world are moved from within themselves, while some things are moved by others; the living are moved from within themselves, the lifeless are [only] moved by others. The source of all motion is alive, rather is life. Thus the Holy Spirit, in so far as He is the source of all motion, is life. "With Thee is the fountain of life" (Ps. 35:10). ⁵⁴ And because He is life, He therefore gives life. Great then is the Holy Spirit in all things that are, and move, and live. "In him, we live and move and have our being" (Acts 17:28). All things therefore have motion and being from the Holy Spirit. Thirdly, if we consider the subtleness of substance in the Holy Spirit, we shall see that He is love. And whose love? That of God, and of those who love God. It is of the very nature of [this] love that the Holy Spirit has subtleness of substance. ⁵⁵ And on the part of the one loved [ amati ], He is the love by which God loves God and by which the Father loves the Son. The Book of Wisdom says: "For there is in her," meaning the wisdom of God, "the spirit of understanding," which makes men understand. ⁵⁶ In Greek, "holy" signifies cleanness. ⁵⁷ Truly, the love by which a man loves bodily things is not clean, for since the lover is united by love to that which he loves, the lover is made unclean to the extent that he mixes himself up with such a thing. For just as silver is debased when mixed with an impure metal, so your soul is debased if is mixed up with inferior or lower things by love of them. ⁵⁸ But when your soul is joined to a higher thing, then the love is called holy. Now, there are some who want to be devoted to God and yet who neglect the salvation of their neighbor; such an attitude is not from the Holy Spirit. ⁵⁹ The Apostle Paul was solicitous over his neighbor's salvation, for which reason he says: "I have become all things to all men, that I might be of profit to all" (1 Cor. 9:22). Again, there are some who are manifold but deceitful. ⁶⁰ Not thus is the Holy Spirit, for He is manifold in such a way that He, remaining utterly one, bestows Himself upon diverse things. Again, He is subtle because He makes a man withdraw from earthly things and cling to God. "One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life" (Ps. 26:4). ⁶¹ "It is good for me to cling to God" (Ps. 72:28). ⁶² Fourthly, this Holy Spirit not only gives being, being alive, and being in motion; nay more, He makes men holy. ⁶³ Hence the Apostle says: "He was predestined God in power, according to the Spirit of holiness" (Rom. 1:4). No one is holy unless the Holy Spirit makes him holy. And how does He make someone holy? I say: He brings it about that what I have just been describing appears in all whom He makes holy, for He renders them subtle, and contemptuous of temporal things. As it says in John's Gospel: "Do not love the world nor those things which are in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him" (1 Jn. 2:15). Again, He bestows spiritual life upon those whom He makes holy, as it says in Ezekiel: "Behold I will place the spirit within you, and you shall live" (Ezek. 37:5). The spiritual life owes its very existence to the Holy Spirit. ⁶⁴ "If you live by the Spirit, walk also by the Spirit" (Gal. 5:25). Again, the Holy Spirit, who makes people holy, by His own force moves them to work well. ⁶⁵ "He [the saint] comes as a rushing stream, which the wind [ spiritus ] of the Lord drives forward" (Is. 59:19). Some men are lazy, and these do not seem to be driven by the Holy Spirit. Hence on that verse of Acts, "Suddenly a sound came from heaven like the rush of a mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting" (Acts 2:2), the Gloss says: "the grace of the Holy Spirit knows nothing of slow efforts." ⁶⁶ Again, the Holy Spirit leads them back to the hidden origin through which we are united to God; in the words of Isaiah, "the Spirit of the Lord will carry you away to a place you do not know" (1 Kings 18:12 ⁶⁷), that is, to the heavenly inheritance. "Thy good Spirit shall lead me into the right land" (Ps. 142:10). ⁶⁸ What is proper to the Holy Spirit is now clear: He is the origin of living, of being, and of moving. 2. The sending of the Holy Spirit Let us look into the second [point], namely the sending of the Holy Spirit, which is marvelous and unknown to us, because the Holy Spirit is sent without needing to be sent, ⁶⁹ without change of Himself, without subjection, and without separation. I say, first, the Holy Spirit is sent without His needing to be sent. When someone is sent to a place so that an event may happen which could not happen unless he were sent, this would be a sending out of necessity. But this has no place in the sending of the Holy Spirit, whom the Book of Wisdom describes as "having every power, beholding all things" (Wis. 7:23). ⁷⁰ What, then, is the reason for the sending of the Holy Spirit? Our neediness; and the necessity of this neediness of ours comes partly from human nature's dignity, and partly from its deficiency. For the rational creature excels other creatures because it can actually reach the enjoyment of God, which no other earthly creature can do. ⁷¹ "The Lord is my portion, said my soul" (Lam. 3:24). Some seek their portion in this world, such as those who seek worldly honor or dignity. But the Psalmist says: "It is good for me to cling to God" (Ps. 72:28). ⁷² You should consider that all things that are moved to some end must have something moving them toward that end. Those that are moved to a natural end have a mover in nature; but those that are moved to a supernatural end, namely to the enjoyment of God, must have a supernatural mover. Now, nothing can lead us to our end unless two things are presupposed, for someone is led to an end by two things—knowledge and love. The kind of knowledge in question is supernatural: "No eye hath seen, nor ear heard, nor hath it arisen in the heart of man, what God hath prepared for those who love Him" (1 Cor. 2:9). "Never have they heard, nor perceived with ears, nor has eye seen, O God, without Thee, what Thou hast prepared for those who await Thee" (Is. 64:4). ⁷³ Now, whatever a man knows, he knows either by discovering it himself or by learning from another. Vision serves discovery and hearing serves learning, and for this reason it is said that "eye hath not seen, nor ear heard," showing that it [the final end] altogether transcends human knowledge. It exceeds human desire, too, and that is why Scripture says: "nor hath it arisen in the heart of man." How, then, is man led to know it? It was necessary for heavenly secrets to be made known to men; it was necessary for the Holy Spirit to be invisibly sent, in order to move man's affections so that he may tend toward that end. And thus it says: "Eye hath not seen." How, then, do we know? "God hath revealed it to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit examineth all things, even the deep things of God" (1 Cor. 2:10). "Who would be able to know Thy thought [ sensum ], unless Thou gavest wisdom and sent the Holy Spirit from the Most High?" (Wis. 9:17). ⁷⁴ Therefore the Holy Spirit is sent not owing to any need of His, but for the sake of our benefit. Again, the sending takes place without any change in Himself. There is change when a messenger is sent from place to place, but the Holy Spirit is sent without any change of place because He is the true God, unchangeable. "While remaining in Himself, He renews all things" (Wis. 7:27). ⁷⁵ How, then, is He sent? He draws us to Himself, and in that way He is said to be sent, as the sun is said to be sent to someone when he comes to share in the sun's brightness. ⁷⁶ So it is with the Holy Spirit, and for this reason Scripture says about uncreated Wisdom: "Send her from the heavens and from the seat of Thy greatness, that she may be with me" (Wis. 9:10). ⁷⁷ Again: "He hath sent His own Spirit, crying out Abba, Father" (Gal. 4:5). These sendings are diffused "throughout all the nations" (Wis. 7:27) and are carried into holy souls. When the "fullness of time" had come, the Son of God was sent in the flesh (Gal. 4:4), and thus it was becoming that the Holy Spirit, too, be visibly sent—but not in such a way that He took up a created nature into the unity of His Person, as the Son did with human nature. Again, the Holy Spirit is sent without subjection. ⁷⁸ Servants are sent by lords because they are subject to them. It was for this reason that certain heretics falsely believed that the Son and the Holy Spirit were lesser than the Father, namely, because they were sent by Him. But the Holy Spirit makes us free, ⁷⁹ and therefore He is no servant. He is sent by His own judgment, for "the Spirit blows where He wills" (Jn. 3:8), and He is said to be "sent" only on account of the Father's identity as origin. ⁸⁰ We sometimes find [Scripture saying] that the Holy Spirit is sent by the Father, sometimes by the Son; but the Greeks do violence to this truth [ in hoc faciunt uim ], for they say that the Holy Spirit proceeds only from the Father, not from the Son, and in saying this they proceed in a simplistic manner [ ruditer ]. ⁸¹ Where the Son speaks of the sending of the Holy Spirit, he adjoins the Son to the Father or the Father to the Son, for our Lord speaks in one place of "the Comforter, whom the Father will send in my name" (Jn. 14:26), and in another place He says: "When the Comforter comes, whom I will send to you from the Father" (Jn. 15:26). "From the Father" indicates, therefore, authority of origin. Again, the Holy Spirit is sent without separation, because the Spirit of unity excludes separation. Hence the Apostle urges: "Take good care to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace" (Eph. 4:3). The Holy Spirit gathers together [ congregat ], as we are taught in John's Gospel [when Jesus prays to the Father]: "That they may be one in us," through the unity of the Holy Spirit, "as we also are one" (Jn. 17:21-22). This union is begun in the present through grace, and will be consummated in the future through glory, to which may He lead us, who together with the Father and the Son lives and reigns, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. ⁸² Evening Collation ⁸³ "Send forth Thy Spirit and they shall be created, and Thou shalt renew the face of the earth." This morning we spoke some words, as well as we were able to do, ⁸⁴ about what is proper to the Holy Spirit, and about His sending. Now it remains for us to speak about the effects of the Holy Spirit, and to whom it belongs to receive those effects. 3. The effects of the Holy Spirit Regarding what is set forth in the words of the Psalmist, we are given to under�stand a twofold effect of the Holy Spirit, namely, creation and renewal: "they shall be created, and Thou shalt renew the face of the earth." If we wish to take these words according as "creation" suggests the production-into-being of the things of nature, the Holy Spirit is in this way the Creator of all things, as Judith says: "Thou didst send forth Thy Spirit, and they were created" (Jud. 16:17). ⁸⁵ But let us now speak of a different creation. As common usage has it, those who are promoted to a higher state, such as the episcopacy or another dignity, are said to be "created." ⁸⁶ In this way all those who are promoted to be sons of God are said to be created, as if to say, promoted. Hence blessed James says: "[Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth] that we might be the beginning of His creation" (Jas. 1:18). ⁸⁷ The Lord wished to establish a new creature, and so in the Book of Wisdom we read: "God created all things that they might exist" (Wis. 1:14)—namely, in their natural existence; and He willed to re- create them, in order that they might exist in the existence of grace. The Apostles were the firstfruits of this re-creation. This re-creation is spoken of in Galatians: "In Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision is of any avail, but a new creature " (Gal. 6:15). What does this mean? Before, there were pagans [ gentiles ], and referring to this Paul says "uncircumcision"; after, there were circumcised Jews, yet this condition availed nothing unless they were re-created through the grace of Christ. ⁸⁸ This creation is the effect of the Holy Spirit. You should know that this re-creation is made up of steps. It can be looked at, first of all, with respect to the grace of charity; secondly, the wisdom of knowledge; thirdly, the harmony of peace; and fourthly, the constancy of firmness. Just as you see that when men are brought into natural existence the first thing they obtain is life, so it ought to be the same with the existence of grace. But through what does a man live in the existence of grace? Surely through charity. "We know that we have been carried over from death into life because we love the brethren" (1 Jn. 3:14). Whoever does not love his brother, regardless of whatever sort of good work he may do, is dead. Charity is the life of the soul, for just as a body lives through its soul, so the soul lives through God, and God dwells in us through charity. "He who abides in charity abides in God, and God abides in him" (1 Jn. 4:16). In today's Gospel we heard: "If a man loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him" (Jn. 14:23). But the man who does not do the will of God does not perfectly love Him, for "it belongs to friends to will and not will the same thing." ⁸⁹ In the homily of today's office, Gregory says: "Love's proof is in love's work." ⁹⁰ But you say: we just aren't able to fulfill the commands of God. I say: you aren't able to fulfill them by your own powers, but through the grace of God you certainly can do so! Hence the Evangelist adds: "My Father will love him"—God shall not fail a man—"and we will come to him," that is, we will be present to him (Jn. 14:23). By that presence [of God in our hearts], we [Christians] will be able to dedicate our powers to fulfilling God's commands. Concerning this charity for fulfilling God's commands, we read in Ephesians: "we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus in good works" (Eph. 2:10). Where does this charity in us come from? The Holy Spirit. "The charity of God is poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit who is given to us" (Rom. 5:5). He who has a share of daylight has that light from the sun; in the same way he who has charity has it from the Holy Spirit. Therefore: "Send forth Thy Spirit, and they shall be created"—namely, in the being of the life of grace, through charity. You see that men, when they become true lovers, make efforts to know the will of God. ⁹¹ "It belongs to friends to have one heart," as it says in Proverbs, ⁹² and God reveals His secrets to His friends. ⁹³ And this is the second step of the creation which is from the Holy Spirit: that they [who are re-created] may know God in wisdom. "But I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you" (Jn. 15:15). Hence, recognition of truth is also from the Holy Spirit. In today's Gospel: "The Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you" (Jn. 14:26). Now, however much a man may be taught exteriorly, it will profit him nothing unless the grace of the Holy Spirit is interiorly present. ⁹⁴ As the Gospel says, "The anointing will teach you concerning all things." ⁹⁵ And He not only teaches the truth, but will even call it back to mind. [It is as if our Lord were saying:] "I myself am able to teach you, but you do not by this fact believe or want to fulfill what I teach. But He who brings it about that you believe and that you fulfill what you hear, He will call things back to mind." The Holy Spirit does this because he inclines the heart to give assent and to carry out what it hears. Hence our Lord says: "Everyone who has heard and learned from my Father comes to me" (Jn. 6:45). ⁹⁶ The third step of creation has to do with concord of peace. St. James distinguishes between earthly and heavenly wisdom, and taking up what is proper to heavenly wisdom he says: "The wisdom which is from above is first of all chaste, then peaceable, modest, easy to be persuaded, consenting to the good, full of mercy and good fruits, without judging, without dissimulation" (Jas. 3:17). But earthly wisdom is unchaste because it causes the affection to be corrupted by the love of earthly things. Hence we read in one of the canonical epistles [ in Canonica ]: "Whatever they know of these things, by these things they are corrupted" (Jude 10). ⁹⁷ Again, earthly wisdom makes men peevish and quarrelsome, but the wisdom which is from above draws one to God, for it is "peaceable, modest, persuadable." Quarrels arise from three things. First, when someone is not modest. As it says in Proverbs: "He who thrusts himself forward and makes himself big incites quarrels" (Prov. 28:25). ⁹⁸ Again, some men are stubborn in their opinion, nor do they allow themselves to be persuaded of anything but what they have in their own head; heavenly wisdom, on the contrary, is "persuadable." Again, worldly wisdom does not allow its wise men to come to an agreement with another, but heavenly wisdom brings about agreement among good men, and is therefore "peaceable." But who is it that makes the peace? The Holy Spirit, for "he is not a God of dissension but of peace" (1 Cor. 14:33). Hence it says in Ephesians: "Take good care to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace" (Eph. 4:3). The Lord exhorts us to preserve this peace when He says: "Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you; not as the world giveth do I give unto you" (Jn. 14:27). This peace is twofold. One is in the present—the peace in which we now live, yet in such a way that we must still fight off vices; such is the peace the Lord "left with us" right now. The other is the peace that shall be in the future, without fighting; and about this the Lord says: "not as the world giveth do I give unto you." ⁹⁹ Now, some want peace only to be able to enjoy good things [more easily]. ¹⁰⁰ The Book of Wisdom says about this: "Living in a great war of ignorance, they judged so many and so great evils to be peace" (Wis. 14:22). ¹⁰¹ But what is true peace? Augustine says that peace is "security of mind, tranquility of soul, simplicity of heart, the bond of love, and the fellowship of charity." ¹⁰² Peace has a threefold object: oneself, one's neighbor, and God. Peace is needed with regard to oneself, so that reason may not be infected by errors or darkened by passions, and concerning this, Augustine says that peace is "security of mind." There should also be tranquility in affection, and concerning this he says "tranquility of soul." Again, there should be simplicity in intention, and concerning this he says "simplicity of heart." ¹⁰³ Peace toward one's neighbor is the "bond of love," and peace with God is the "fellowship of charity." Is not peace then utterly necessary for us? Surely it is. The Lord made His testament for the sake of peace, and those who do not want to keep the testament cannot receive the inheritance; thus those who do not want to keep peace cannot arrive at the heavenly inheritance. But what if someone were to say: "I want to have peace with God, but not with my neighbor"? The answer: such a thing is impossible. Hence a certain saint says: "No one can have peace with Christ who is out of harmony with a Christian." ¹⁰⁴ Therefore, the third step of creation is the harmony of peace, and so the prophet Isaiah declares: "I have created the fruit of the lips, peace" (Is. 57:19). ¹⁰⁵ The fourth step is constancy of firmness, and this too is from the Holy Spirit. Hence the Apostle says to the Ephesians: "according to the riches of His glory, may He grant you to be strengthened with inner might through His Spirit in the inner man" (Eph. 3:16). And in Ezekiel: "The Spirit entered into me and I stood upon my feet" (Ezek. 2:2). And in the Gospel: "Let not your heart be troubled, nor let it be afraid" (Jn. 14:27). And in the Book of Wisdom: "God created man incorruptible" (Wis. 2:25). ¹⁰⁶ Therefore, the first effect of the Holy Spirit is that He creates. The second effect is a renewal which consists of four things: grace that cleanses, justice that is ever making progress, wisdom that illuminates, and glory that attains consummation. I say that the effect of renewal through the Holy Spirit consists, first of all, of the grace that cleanses. Sin is a sort of old age of the soul, and a man is only freed from this old age through justifying grace, by which he is cleansed from sin. Hence the Apostle writes: "As Christ has risen from the dead, so also let us walk in newness of life" (Rom. 6:4). ¹⁰⁷ Where does this newness come from? The Holy Spirit. So the same Apostle writes to Titus: "He saved us, not because of deeds done by us in righteousness, but in virtue of His own mercy, by the laver of regeneration and renewal in the Holy Spirit" (Tit. 3:5). All sins are forgiven through that laver, and in this way man is renewed. Secondly, this renewal consists in the justice that is ever making progress. If one should walk, grow tired, and become weak, and then he rests, his powers seem to him to be renewed; and when a man works diligently, ¹⁰⁸ he is renewed when he gains further power for working. About this renewal Job says: "My glory shall be renewed, and the bow in my hand shall be repaired" (Job 29:20). The glory of the saints is the testimony of conscience. A man is renewed when he is quick to fight against vices. Isaiah describes it: "They shall take wings as eagles, they shall fly and not fail" (Is. 40:31), ¹⁰⁹ namely, for running in the way of God's commandments (Ps. 118:32). ¹¹⁰ But who causes this running? The Holy Spirit. "He led us out through the deep, as a horse in the wilderness that does not stumble, and the Spirit of the Lord was his leader" (Is. 63:13-14). ¹¹¹ Thirdly, renewal comes about through the wisdom that illuminates. When a man comes to new knowledge of more of the good things of God, he is renewed. About this renewal it says in Colossians: "Put on the new man who is created according to God." ¹¹² The "new man" [ nouus homo ] indicates Christ, because His was a novel [ noua ] kind of conception, ¹¹³ "not from the seed of man, but from the Holy Spirit" ¹¹⁴; a novel kind of birth, because His mother remained a virgin after birth; a novel kind of suffering [ passio ], because it was without guilt ¹¹⁵; a novel kind of rising from the dead [ resurrectio ], because it was quick and renewing, for He rose quickly and in glory ¹¹⁶; a novel kind of ascension, because he ascended by His own power, not by that of another, as did Enoch and Elijah. ¹¹⁷ And so it is said in Ecclesiasticus: "Show signs anew and work wonders" (Sir. 36:6). And because all things are renewed through Christ, therefore on solemnities we use new vestments in church, that we may "sing to the Lord a new song" ¹¹⁸ —as though to signify that he who is renewed by the exterior cleanness of his clothing is renewed interiorly in his mind by grace. By "stripping off the old man," i.e., the habit of sins with its deeds, "and putting on" the habit of virtue which is not lacking in [good] deeds, "the new man," i.e., the rational mind, will be renewed "in the knowledge of God" (Col. 3:9-10). ¹¹⁹ As Romans has it, "Put on the Lord Jesus Christ" (Rom. 13:14). And from whom does that wisdom come? The Holy Spirit, as Job testifies: "As I see, there is a spirit in men, and the inspiration of the Almighty gives understanding. [They that are aged are not the wise men, neither do the ancients understand judgment]" (Job 32:8-9). ¹²⁰ Fourthly, renewal comes about through the glory that attains consummation, when the body is renewed, the oldness of punishment and guilt being taken away. We read about this in the prophet Isaiah: "Behold, I create new heavens and a new earth; [and the former things shall not be remembered or come into mind]" (Is. 65:17). And where does this renewal come from? The Holy Spirit. He is the pledge of our inheritance, and it is He who leads us into the heavenly inheritance. He who needs to be created and renewed shall obtain this from the Holy Spirit. 4. The recipient of these effects But who receives that renewal? "The face of the earth": that is, the whole world, which at one time was filled with idolatry. Today, the Lord gave to the Apostles the gifts of the charisms. ¹²¹ It was of them that the prophet Isaiah said: "They who enter with force," namely, the force of the Holy Spirit, "from Jacob shall fill the face of the earth with seed" (Is. 27:6). ¹²² And "face of the earth" refers to the human mind, for just as it is through the face that we see in a bodily manner, so it is through the mind that we see in a spiritual manner, as it says in Genesis: "God created man from the slime of the earth and breathed into his face the breath of life" (Gen. 2:7). But in order that the human mind may receive that renewal, it should have four things: it should be clean, uncovered, directed, and stable and firm. Of the first, we read in Matthew: "But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face" (Mt. 6:17), namely, with tears of compunction, and then you will be able to receive the renewal of the Holy Spirit. "Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me" (Ps. 50:12). ¹²³ Secondly, the face of the mind should be open and uncovered. The prophet says: "His face is covered with fatness" (Job 15:27). ¹²⁴ Some have the face of their mind covered over with the darkness of ignorance. [Job, on the contrary, asserts:] "Darkness has not covered my face" (Job 23:17). ¹²⁵ And the Apostle: "But we all beholding the glory of the Lord with open face," namely, a face not covered over by affection for earthly things, "are transformed into the same image from glory to glory as by the Spirit of the Lord" (2 Cor. 3:18). Thirdly, the face of the mind should be directed toward God, as we read in the prayer: "Now I turn my face toward Thee, and direct my eyes toward Thee" (Tob. 3:14). ¹²⁶ How do we turn our face toward God? By a right intention; it is thus that we obtain the renewal of the Holy Spirit. Hence it says in the Gospel of Luke: "He will give the good Spirit to those who ask him" (Lk. 11:13). ¹²⁷ Again, if you are turned [to God] through obedience, He will give the Holy Spirit to those who obey Him. Likewise, we should also turn our face toward our neighbor, as Tobit says to his son: "Do not turn your face away from any poor man, and the face of God will not be turned away from you" (Tob. 4:7). Hence the Apostles received the Holy Spirit when they were together (Acts 2:1-4). ¹²⁸ Fourthly, the face of the mind should be firm. It is written of Anna, mother of Samuel, "her countenance was no more changed in various ways" (1 Sam. 1:18), ¹²⁹ and for this reason she received the Holy Spirit. And the book of Job says: "Surely then you will lift up your face without blemish; you will be secure, and will not fear" (Job 11:15). The Holy Spirit is given to persons like these. That is why it says in the Gospel: "And eating together with them, he charged them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which, he said, 'you heard from me, for John baptized with water, but before many days you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit.'" ¹³⁰ But if they had gone away [from Jerusalem], they would not have received the Holy Spirit. "He who perseveres shall be saved" (Mt. 10:22; 24:13). In our prayers today, we shall ask the Lord to grant us this grace of perseverance. ¹³¹ Amen. Notes on the Translation

Thomas Aquinas: Sermon: Puer Iesus

SERMON

PUER IESUS

ON THE FIRST SUNDAY AFTER EPIPHANY

translated by Athanasius Sulavik

I. SERMON

The child Jesus grew in age and wisdom and favor with God and men.

1. Everything that the Lord did or suffered in the flesh is an instruction and an example for our salvation, and so we find in John: I have given you an example that as I have done, so you should do also; and because the way of salvation is not absent to each age of human life, especially that age corresponding to the years of discretion, Christ's adolescence is proposed as a model for adolescents. Now, since adolescence is characterized by development and growth, Christ's growth is therefore proposed as a model for adolescents. In order that we may be able to say something about Christ's growth that will be to the honor of God and to the salvation of our souls, let us entreat the Lord at the beginning. The child Jesus, etc.

2. If we wish to consider these words carefully, we will discover in them four aspects of Christ's growth, namely an a growth in age with respect to the body; a growth in wisdom with respect to understanding; a growth in grace with respect to God; and a growth in favor with respect to his fellowship with men. 3. Indeed, all these [different] growths are wondrous, or rather they are filled with astonishment and wonder; indeed it is wondrous that eternity grows by way of time, since the Son of God is eternity and from eternity: For ever, 0 Lord, your word endures. 4. Again, it is wondrous that truth grows by way of wisdom, since growth in wisdom is knowledge of the truth, and Christ truth itself, as we read in John: I am the way, the truth and the life. 5. Again, it is wondrous that the maker of grace grows in grace; indeed Christ is the creator of grace, as [it says] in John: Grace and truth were made through Christ. 6. Again, it is wondrous that he who surpassed all men grows in their presence deserves to be admired; men ought rather to grow in his presence. As the Psalmist says: He is high above all nations. How then will Christ grow in all these ways? 7. I say that if we rightly want to consider his growth in age, one reason comes immediately to mind. The eternal Son of God wished to enter into time so that he would be able to grow according to the ages of human life. [As it says in] Isaiah: A child is born to us. If he was born as a child, why then would he not grow up as a child? 8. The other growths of Christ present a greater difficulty. Christ assumed a complete human nature; he was born a child according to the flesh, but not according to the soul, because from the moment of his conception his most blessed soul, having been united to God, was filled with every grace and truth; as we find in John: We saw his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. He was filled with grace and truth because he was the only begotten of God; but from the moment of conception he was the only begotten; therefore, at that moment he was filled with grace and truth and he was made perfect in virtue. We read in Jeremiah: A woman shall compass a man. This occurred through perfection of mind rather than of age, but how is he said to grow by wisdom and grace? 9. It must be asserted that someone is said to grow in wisdom not only when he acquires greater wisdom but more so when wisdom is revealed within him. It is true that Christ was filled with wisdom and grace from the first moment of his conception,` but he did not reveal it from the beginning, but when others were accustomed to doing so. At that time he is said to have grown in wisdom," not in himself, but with respect to outward results by which he was growing in other areas. If he had wished to show his wisdom when he was seven years old, men could have doubted the reality of his assumed human nature, and for this reason Christ wished to be conformed to other men. Therefore, the Apostle to the Philippians says: He emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men. Christ made himself little by taking on our littleness; and in order that he might truly show himself to be little he was made in the likeness of men. The Apostle says: He was seen on earth and conversed with men, and Christ first revealed his wisdom at that age when wise judgement usually first appears in a person, namely, when he was twelve years old. Therefore, he wished to reveal his wisdom little by little, not [all at once], so that the truth of his human nature within him would be accepted, and so that he might give us an example of growing in wisdom. 10. Therefore, as we have already mentioned, the growth of Christ was fourfold, namely years, wisdom, grace, and in human fellowship. 11. Let us first describe Christ's growth in age, which is bodily, and which is proposed to us as a model in order that we may grow in age of body and mind like him, because a growth in bodily age is worthless if the soul does not keep pace with it; hence Christ's growth in wisdom and grace kept pace with his growth in age. For if a man fails to advance in mind at equal pace with his physical age four incongruities result from it, because this is monstrous, wasteful, burdensome or laborious, and dangerous. 12. Let me begin by saying that growing in age of body but not growing in maturity of mind is monstrous. Man is composed of a soul and a body just as a body is composed of various limbs, but let us suppose that, some body grows in one limb and its growth remains stunted in its other limbs: this is monstrous. The same is true when anyone has the body but not the mind of an adult. For this reason the Apostle says: When I was a child, I understood as a child, I spoke as a child, but when I became a man I put away those things of a child. Children think about play and of other such things. It is true that the Lord commands that we be as little children, saying in Matthew: Unless you be converted and become as little children, you shall not enter the kingdom of heaven. Some childlike qualities we ought to retain, because children are not malicious, but are humble. But other childlike qualities we ought to cast off, because children are lacking in wisdom; hence the Apostle says: Do not become children in understanding. But in malice be children and in understanding be perfect. We ought to bear in mind that inasmuch as we are growing in physical age we should be growing in mind as well. Suppose that someone were to experience growth in one foot and not in the other, he would make every effort to see a doctor so that his other foot would grow in the same manner. In the same way, you who are growing older should make every effort to see that your mind develops too. 13. Furthermore, growing in bodily age but not in maturity of mind is wasteful. Suppose someone had the time to acquire a great object and he allowed it to slip away in vain, he would consider this a great waste. In the same way should either the merchant who believes that he is profiting much at trading time or the student who believes that he is listening to a useful lecture lose that time, he considers himself to have lost much. Time is not given to you for acquiring such paltry things, but for God and the heavenly blessings which no one can take away; hence the Apostle says: Eye has not seen, nor ear heard,. neither has it entered into the heart of man what things God has prepared for them that love him. For this reason it is said: Let not the part of a good time pass you by; and Solomon says: Give not your honor to strangers, nor your years to the cruel, lest strangers be filled with your strength, and your labors be in another's house. Give not your honor to strangers: honor is granted to man for defeating his enemies in war; such honor is granted to you who overcome the world, the flesh, and the devil. But when you offer your natural abilities to serve the devil, which were given to you to defeat the devil, then you are giving your honor away to a stranger. Next follows: Give not the years of your youth to the cruel," that is, to the devil who is cruel, because, inasmuch as it is necessary that you serve him, he will not give you rest; therefore Jeremiah says: You shall serve strange gods, who will not give you any rest. And your labors will be in another's house. Perhaps you are performing good works and have labored on their account; if you are devoted to the Lord, then your labors will be in your house. However, if you are not devoted to the Lord, then your labors will be in a stranger's house because the saints in heaven will be rejoicing over your good works and not you. Therefore, it is said in Revelation: Take hold of that which you have, lest another take your crown. 14. Moreover, growing in bodily age but not in maturity of mind is laborious. But you will say: "I am young; I want to play while I am young; when I grow old I will devote myself to the Lord". To be sure, you are committing yourself to great labor: that which a man has grown accustomed to doing from his youth is easy for him; this is evident because laboring in a field is easy for a farmer, since he has grown accustomed to it, but for you it is difficult. If you grow accustomed to having your own way and to living in your sins, either you lose hope of attaining eternal life or you store up for yourself much labor; therefore Solomon says: A young man will walk according to his way: even when he is old he will not depart from it. And Jeremiah says: It is good for a man, when he has borne the yoke of the Lord from his youth, because such a man can easily overcome difficulties, and therefore Christ has given us an example of doing good from youth, because when he was twelve years old he grew in wisdom. 15. Again, it is dangerous when anyone grows in bodily age but not in maturity of mind. God will require an accounting from everyone; thus we read in the Gospel: The kingdom of heaven is like a man settling an account with his servants. God has given you time so that you may serve Him, but it is said in Job: He has given him time and he has abused it in pride. God will require from you an accounting of your time. Isaiah [says]: And I said.. I have spent my strength without cause and in vain. He uses up his strength uselessly and without good reason who spends his time on worthless things; and therefore this follows in Isaiah: Therefore my judgement is with the Lord, and Solomon says: Rejoice therefore, 0 young man, in your youth, and know that for all these God will bring you into judgement. Will that be an easy judgement? No, because as Isaiah says: The child being one hundred years old will be accursed, that is, a sinner. Whence it says in Baruch: You have grown old in a foreign country; you are counted with them that go down to hell. But refuse to despair of God's mercy even though your deserts warrant this. 16. This then is our first concern, that we should mature in mind just as in age. But how does man mature in mind? Surely when he matures in wisdom and grace, and, although Thessalonians mentions wisdom before grace, we will nevertheless discuss grace first, since the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. 17. Grace is hidden because it is in the soul. However, hidden causes are not known except through perceptible effects. However, among all the effects of grace, none is so perceptible as peace; therefore the Apostle always joins peace to grace: The fruit of the Spirit is joy, charity, peace. And when someone has peace, it is an indication that he has grace, since there is no peace to the wicked, says the Lord. And God indicated this in the case of growth in grace because, when he was twelve years old, he entered into the place of peace, that is Jerusalem, which means "vision of peace." Therefore, during our years of discretion we ought to strive to acquire peace. 18. But many people are deceived because they do not have peace when they think that they have it; hence the false prophets said: Peace, peace, and there was no peace. In order that we may understand true peace, note that peace ought to have four conditions, since it ought to be lofty, uniformed, persevering or lasting, and cautious. 19. In the first place the peace of grace ought to be lofty. Man is set between two things, and this [situation] can produce a twofold peace; one side of him is caught between the flesh and the spirit which war against one another, because the flesh lusts against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh. The spirit is lofty and the flesh is feeble; because of this, man has two possibilities for establishing peace. If he establishes peace in such a way that the spirit yields to the flesh, this is neither a lofty nor a true peace, but is feeble and false, whence: Living in a great war of ignorance, they suffer so many and so great evils and they think peace. Such people are involved in a great war because they endure a war of ignorance and the remorse of conscience. The other peace is established when the flesh yields to the spirit. How is this peace brought about? Clearly by subjecting the flesh to the spirit through the mortification of the flesh. 20. Someone will say: "I want to establish peace in such a way that the spirit in some way accomodates the flesh, and in this way there will be peace, because afterwards the flesh will be subjected to the spirit". This cannot occur because the flesh is of its very nature servile. The more a servant is allowed, the more impudent he becomes; thus we find in Ecclesiasticus: He that nourishes his servant delicately from his childhood, afterwards shall find him stubborn. And the Philosopher says: "The appetite for the pleasurable is insatiable, and, for the one who begins and who exercises his desire its practice makes it more impulsive in every respect." If you gratify the pleasure of your flesh, it is not appeased by this, but it craves more because whoever will have drunk from this water will thirst again. How must this peace be achieved? Certainly by subduing the flesh; as Isaiah says: In battle I shall march against it and it will make peace with me. For this reason we read that the Lord went into Jerusalem, not that he descended into it. Hence it is said: He went with those going up into Jerusalem. 21. Some want the spirit to make peace with the flesh; they practice abstinence, but they do not keep to what is appropriate. They want to appear different from others, against the Lord's commandment in the Gospel: When you fast, he said, be not as the hypocrites, sad. A man ought to practice good works in secret, and he ought to be in conformity with others in public; thus we find in Ecclesiasticus: Be among them as one of them. When Augustine arrived at Milan, he discovered that the people there did not fast; however, at Rome and Carthage they did fast; his mother was very distressed over whether she should fast or not; and so Augustine, who at that time was still a catechumen, asked Ambrose whether she should fast or not; and Ambrose answered: "To whatever church you come, if you do not wish to suffer scandal or to bring scandal to others, follow its custom. Therefore, Jesus went up according to custom. Do not be singular, because God seems utterly to detest singularity. 22. But notice that he says of the feast day. If your companions want to do something that is opposed to virtue, you should not be like them in that thing; hence we find in Exodus: You shall not follow the crowd to do evil. And Jeremiah says: Ask for the old paths, and see which is the good way, and walk in it. This applies to peace. As the Psalmist says: Jerusalem, which is built as a city, which is compact together. Together, that is, according to the harmony of the opinions and of the customs of others. 23. Moreover, this peace ought to be lasting, because it is not enough to possess it for a time, but it is necessary that man persevere in it. As Job says: Until I fail I will not depart from my innocence: my justification, which I have begun to hold, I will notforsake. He says two things: first, until I fail, that is even until death, from my innocence I will not depart. Man departs from his innocence by sinning. Thus we find in Ecclesiasticus: And he that passes over from justice to sin, God has prepared him for the saber, that is, for a sharp sword. It is not enough that a man refrain from sinning, but if you are accustomed to living uprightly, you must not forsake good works; therefore it says: my justification, which I have begun to hold, I will not forsake. Hence we find in Revelation: I have this against you, that you have left your first love; and this is indicated in today's Gospel: Having completed the feast days, Jesus remained in the temple. Some might well refrain from a sin on a feast day, but after the feast day they return to their sin. In fact, a man ought to abide in justice and innocence. This is indicated in the book of Kings, when Solomon, speaking to Semei, whose name means "obedient,"" says: Build yourself a house in Jerusalem and dwell there, and do not go forth to this place or to that place, for on whatever day you go forth, know that you will be killed. Thus this peace ought to be constant. 24. Fourth, peace ought to be cautious. Do you wish to make peace with the spirit against the flesh? If you wish to make peace with it and to bring it under your control, you should guard against its friends. Do you wish to make peace with the spirit against the flesh? You should guard against friends of the flesh; therefore Jeremiah says: Let every one beware of his neighbor, namely, of the carnal, and in any brother, namely, of the flesh, let him not trust. Because it is said in Micah: A man's enemies are they of his own household, and this is indicated in today's Gospel by the Lord's wish to remain in Jerusalem, his parents did not know. Those who are eager to attain the perfection of peace of the spirit ought to guard themselves against friends and familiarity of the flesh: As the Psalmist says: Forget your people and your father's house and the king will desire your beauty, namely, by granting [grace] in the present moment and by leading to glory in the future. This may he deem worthy to grant us, he who lives and reigns, etc.

II. COLIATIO

Jesus grew, etc. 1. Today Christ's twofold growth was mentioned, namely growth in age and growth in grace; it now remains to speak about the other two growths, namely about growth in wisdom and in human fellowship. 2. Just as growth in grace is revealed in peace, so growth in wisdom is revealed in contemplation; hence, Solomon says in Ecclesiastes: I have surpassed all in wisdom who were before me in Jerusalem. Why is this? He adds: My mind has contemplated many things wisely. Whoever contemplates many things wisely grows in wisdom. Consider this: either "temple" is derived from "contemplating" or "contemplation" is derived from "temple." It is for this reason, therefore, that the Lord is found in the temple: he is showing us his eagerness for contemplation. But the Psalmist also says that contemplation is signified by a temple: One thing I have asked, he said, from you, this I will seek after, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life and may visit his holy temple. That person truly visits the temple who goes into the temple not for trifling and frivolous reasons, but so that he might contemplate the will of God. Let us see what Christ did in the temple, and through that contemplation we are able to learn if a man grows in a temple. 3. For a man to grow in wisdom four things are necessary, namely that he should listen willingly, seek diligently, respond prudently, and meditate attentively. 4. First of all, I say this: for a man to grow in wisdom, it is necessary that he should listen willingly, since wisdom is so profound that no man is sufficient by himself to contemplate himself by himself. It is necessary, therefore, that he should listen; hence we find in Ecclesiasticus: If you love to listen, you will be wise. You will say: "I am wise enough, I am unwilling to listen." For this reason he added: A wise man listening to wisdom will be wiser. There is no one so wise as not to learn more by listening, therefore, they found Jesus listening. 5. But how should you listen? To be sure perseveringly. Certain people want to hear a reading once so as to gain a passing knowledge of it; but they do not put their heart into it. But after three days they found Jesus assiduously [listening]; you ought to listen this way too; thus in Proverbs: Blessed is the man that listens to me and that watches daily at my gates. 6. Next, we should not only listen to one person but to many people, because as the Apostle says: there are a variety of graces. But no one man is perfect in all things. Blessed Gregory knew morals the best, blessed Augustine solved questions [the best], and blessed Ambrose allegorized the best. What you do not learn from one, you learn from another; thus in Ecclesiasticus: Stand in the midst of the wise elders, and join yourself from your heart to their wisdom, that you may listen to the discourse of God. What one does not tell you, another does. I am not saying that 1 believe that it is useful for those who are beginning to first listen to any sort of knowledge for the sake of listening to different people, but they ought to listen to one person until they become well versed, and when they have become well versed, then they should listen to different people so that they might be able to pick flowers from different opinions, in other words, those things which are helpful. 7. Moreover, Jesus was found listening to many people and standing in their midst; this is the role of a just judge; for the duty of a judge is to be attentive to the listener, since he ought to judge justly upon what he hears: Does not the ear discern words, says Job. A student ought to be a just judge, but some students follow the opinion of their teachers because they hear them; but no one ought to cherish a friend over the truth, but he should adhere to the truth alone, since the Philosopher says that a disagreement among opinions is not opposed to friendship. Christ was in the midst, because as it says in Ecclesiasticus: In the midst of the church the Lord shall open his mouth, and shall fill him with the spirit of wisdom and understanding. 8. But the perfection of wisdom requires that a man diligently seeks after it, since wisdom is more precious than all things which could be desired; hence we find in Proverbs: She is more precious than jewels; and all the things that are desired are not to be compared with her. And in the book of Wisdom we read: I preferred her to kingdoms and thrones. 9. Consider this: those who are in need of a perishable item are not content to merely have it offered to them, but diligently seek after it. In the same way, we also ought to diligently seek after wisdom; hence Solomon says: If you seek her as money, you will find her. Some people will cross mountains and the sea in order to acquire money; so you too ought to labor on behalf of wisdom. Hence, they also found Jesus inquiring and seeking after wisdom in the temple, so that he might give us an example of seeking after wisdom, namely where you 10. First wisdom is to be sought from a teacher or from those who are wiser; hence in Deuteronomy: Ask your father, that is to say your teacher, because just as your father begot you physically, so your teacher begot you spiritually, and he will declare to you; ask your elders, that is, ask those who are wiser, and they will tell you. 11. Next, you should not only be content to ask those who are present, but you ought to ask the ancients and those who are absent. If you have limited access to such people, you nevertheless have access to their writings. When you read the writings of Augustine and Ambrose, then you are asking those very men. As Job says: Inquire of the former generation and search diligently into the memory of the fathers, that is, the remembrance that they left for you. 12. Furthermore, it is not merely enough that you ask those men or even examine their writings, but you should reflect upon. creation because it says in Ecclesiasticus: God poured out his wisdom upon all his works. The works of God are the judgements of his wisdom, just so with a crafted object whereby we are able to discern from it many things about the wisdom of its artisan, hence Job says: Ask the beasts and they will teach you, and the birds of the air and they will tell you. 13. Moreover, a man ought to acquire wisdom by sharing it with others, thus in Wisdom: Which I have learned without guile, and communicated without envy. Anyone at all. can find out that no one advances in knowledge so profitably than by sharing what he knows with others; in fact this is an obligation so that a man might answer another about that which he knows; hence in Proverbs: That I might show you the certainty and the words of truth, to answer these who sent you. Christ answered, and all were astonished at his prudence and his answers. 14. A threefold prudence is required in a response. 15. First, prudence is necessary so that the response may correspond to the intellectual ability of the respondent. If someone were to ask you something that is beyond your intellectual capacity, you would not be obliged to respond. Hence: If you have understanding, answer your neighbor; if not, place your hand over your mouth, lest you be surprised in an unskillful word, and be confounded. 16. Second, prudence is required in a response so that the response will correspond to the character of the listener. It is not always necessary to respond to anyone since it does on occasion occur that a person asks you something to provoke temptation or blame, as it says in Proverbs: Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest you be made like him. But what is the mark of a fool? To be sure, a fool inquires after offensive things, as it says in Proverbs: the question of a fool is meddling with reproaches. But you should answer a fool according to his own folly lest, as Solomon says, you appear foolish to him. Christ did this well, when others asked him by what authority he performs miracles, he answered them by means of another question. 17. Third, prudence ought to be in a response so that it may correspond to the question and so that it may not be embellished with many words, but would answer the question; otherwise the response would be full of wind. Therefore we find in Job: Will a wise man answer into the wind? Christ responded prudently, therefore all were astonished at his wisdom and answers. 18. Fourth, the highest degree of prudence is achieved when a man meditates attentively. As the Psalmist says: The meditation of my heart is always in your sight? We have an example in the blessed Virgin who kept all the words pondering them in her heart. In an explanation of these words a certain Greek says that a notable word suffices: "Consider, he says, how Mary, the most prudent of women, truly the mother of wisdom, becomes the scholar of her child, and furthermore she does not perceive him as a boy nor as a man, but as God, so that as she had conceived the Word itself in her womb, so she then conceived all his deeds and words in her heart." 19. Consider three aspects about the meditation of the blessed Virgin Mary. 20. First, that it was fruitful. What is the fruit of meditation? I say that meditation is the key to memory. You will be able to read and hear many things, but you will not be able to retain them unless you meditate. As the Psalmist says: I have understood more than all my teachers because your testimonies are my meditation. In fact just as food does not give you nourishment unless it is first chewed, so you will not be able to advance in knowledge unless, through frequent meditation, you chew upon those things you have heard. 21. Also, the blessed Virgin's meditation was complete because she kept all the words. A man ought to meditate upon all the things he has heard. 22. Moreover, the blessed Virgin's meditation was profound. Some people only want to meditate superficially. If you cannot meditate at one time upon all things, then you should meditate at another time. Mary kept all the words pondering them in her heart. As the Psalmist says: I meditated in the night with my own heart and I was exercised and I search my spirit. There is not doubt that the person who gladly listens, prudently responds, diligently inquires, and attentively meditates, will advance in wisdom a great deal. This is the way of growing in wisdom. 23. It now remains to speak about growth in human fellowship. It is true that whoever gleans enough from this Gospel will be able to understand human fellowship so far as it concerns subordinates and superiors, and since there are few superiors and many subordinates here, let us speak about subordinates. It is necessary for you to know that if you want to grow in human fellowship you must have four things, namely respect, purity, humility and discretion. 24. Well first of all, if you want to grow in human fellowship, you must have respect. Some people only have respect for themselves so that they might live in peace and grow in wisdom, but they do not want to lower themselves before others. Such men are able to grow in favor with God but not with men; but Jesus grew in favor and wisdom with God and with men. This is signified in Jesus' going down with them. Jesus remained on his own for a time in Jerusalem, but when he wished, he went down. Hence, it says in the Song of Songs: My beloved is gone down into his garden, that is into the garden of delights. And on the ladder which Jacob envisioned, he saw angels descending and ascending; so too should we ascend by means of spiritual growth and descend through a genuine respect for our neighbor. 25. Some lower themselves before others, but excessively, even to the point of sin. Christ went down into Nazareth, which means flower, by which purity is symbolized, thus in the Song of Songs: Our bed is flourishing, and blessed is he who in his conscience has nothing shameful or worthy of reproach but only the fragrance of a good reputation, hence we find in the Song of Songs: My flowers are the fruit of honor and riches. There is fruit in meritorious action, therefore the Apostle says: You have your fruit in sanctification; flowers are in the homeland to come. 26. Third, we ought to have humility; hence Augustine says: "A man should grow ashamed to become proud from the fact that God was born of humble estate." Christ was subject to men so that you might be subject to your superiors. Gregory says: "Whoever is made perfect by moving forward, never forsakes obedience. Before a man may come to the perfection of human fellowship, he must see obedience as leading to good, and so Christ had the highest obedience. There are some people who are good at obeying in nonessential matters, but not in important ones; Christ, however, was obedient in important matters; hence, [it says] about this: He was obedient to them, and to whom those were, the Gloss says: "They were just and honorable, nonetheless they were poor and were in want of the necessities of life; the manger which served the venerable birth bears witness to the fact that through their continual labors they were seeking basic material needs". Christ also labored with them: I am poor and in labors from my youth. There are many who come to the studium and want to grow in wisdom, however their intent is not to descend but to ascend, not so that they might be in Nazareth, but in the depravity of sin; not so that they may be subordinates, but so that they might [become] superiors; Christ, however, went down into Nazareth, where he was obedient to them. 27. Fourth, discretion is necessary. What does it mean to show discretion in obeying? To be sure we owe obedience to our superiors in those matters which do not lead us away from God, hence blessed Peter says: We ought to obey God rather than man. Christ had this discretion: in those matters which did not lead him away from God he was obedient to them. Do you not know, he said, that I must be about my father's business? As the Psalmist says: It is good for me to adhere to God, namely, in the present time through grace and in the future through glory, which is for you and for us, etc.